Puerto Rico in Darkness as Power Grid Fails on New Years Eve

NEW YORK, NY (THE WORLD TELEGRAM NEWS) – New Years Eve Celebrations have taken a slight backseat in Puerto Rico as the US territory grapples with a massive power grid failure that left over a million — if not more — in darkness. The region isn’t immune to failures to its electricity, with previous blackouts happening this past summer, and during Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

Responding to the incidents, Governor Pierluisi said “We are in communication with LUMA and Genera, as well as with the AEE team regarding the massive blackout affecting a large part of the Island due to a critical fault. We can report that work is already underway to restore service with the San Juan and Palo Seco plants. We are demanding answers and solutions from both LUMA and Genera, who must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the fault area and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the Island.”

At 3PM, LUMA Energy, one of the two private power companies responsible for power in Puerto Rico, provided an update, saying “[their] crews are continuing to restore power. Over 73,000 customers are currently in service, with approximately 290 MW of generation back online. Facilities have been energized, including hospitals, Water and Sewer Authority facilities, and critical loads.”

Genera, another private power company, formed partially out of a need to fix the country’s aging powergrid has not provided a statement as of the time of this report.

Responding to the news, NY Attorney General posted her two-cents on X (formerly known as twitter), saying, “The people of Puerto Rico deserve to have an infrastructure on their island that doesn’t leave them in the dark.”